MUMBAI: Intelenet said it has launched automation platforms that reduce the number of customer service agents needed for a contract, as it focuses on cannibalising some of its existing revenue to win a bigger share of its clients’ business. The initial platforms are in the travel segment — Intelenet’s second-biggest vertical — which has over 4,000 employees. And Intelenet said the new platforms have resulted in the company receiving more business.

“We have seen 25-40% productivity improvements but we received more work. In one case, a client consolidated some of their providers and moved more work to us,” Bhupender Singh, CEO of the Blackstone-owned BPO, said.

The company’s travel-automation platform reduces the time taken to process a flight change request. It also helps airlines automate the various customer-related processes that take place when a flight is late or has been rescheduled. Automation has become the focus of the three-decade-old Indian BPO industry as it focuses on staying relevant to its customers who still want year-over-year productivity improvements.

Singh said BPOs would have to start cannibalising their business or risk losing it to other players. “Our existing customers are growing 11% but we have to give back 3-4% of that through our own automation efforts.

Then we grow with new customers to reach an overall growth rate of 11-12%,” Singh said. Intelenet wants to more than double its revenue to $1billion in five years. To reach that level, from its about $400 million topline now, Intelenet is looking to get $200 million in revenue from its acquisitions, $100 million from tapping Blackstone customers and $300 million will come from organic growth.

Some of that revenue growth will also come from selling its automation platform as a software rather than as a service.